Diseases in Tropical Fish

Seeking Expert Advice on Fish Health from a Licensed Veterinarian

(The First Tank Guide)

Fish keepers are often driven to seek expert advice when one of
their beloved pets becomes ill (or at least they should
be). The expert to which these individual need to be speaking
is a veterinarian. Unfortunately, there are very few
veterinarians who will see a fish or even talk to a fish owner about
their fish's health.

Why Bother with a Veterinarian, Then?

This makes it even more important to all fish owners that they
speak to a veterinarian when they have questions about their ill - or
possibly ill - fish. By speaking to veterinarians about their fish
when something like this comes up, veterinarians will begin to see
that there is a market in caring for fish and will begin to either see
fish or hire on staff with the requisite expertise.

What Can I Do in the Mean Time?

Unfortunately, in the mean time, this leaves fish keepers in a poor
state. Fish diseases are difficult to identify accurately, and
treating them successfully and quickly is almost always dependent on
accurate - and early - diagnosis. Accurate
diagnosis, in almost all cases requires tissue sampling and/or biopsy
or necropsy, and these issues take us back to seeing a qualified
veterinarian or fish pathologist.

What About Other Sites that Recommend Specific Medications?

The staff at many pet stores and even the owners of various web
sites will often attempt to shovel out advice on diagnosing fish
illnesses and the appropriate treatments. However, anyone who is
providing you with this kind of advice without seeing the fish in
question - and probably taking samples and having them analyzed in a
lab - is, in fact, doing a disservice to the fish keeper.

Without performing the appropriate laboratory tests on the samples
of the disease or tissue samples from the fish, the advice you are
given is highly suspicious. You are just as well off to merely review
the medications available at your local pet shop and select the one
that best suits the symptoms you are seeing as to ask the store
employee what medication you should get.

The one exception to this is when an employee from a good pet store helps you to select a medication by asking you
questions about what symptoms or signs you are seeing, and pointing
out medications that address those symptoms. The employee should not
make a recommendation on a medication, only point out to you what
symptoms claim to be treated and asking you about other symptoms you
have seen. The other thing that the employee of a good pet store will
talk to you about when you come in to talk about your sick fish, is
the routine maintenance you
perform on your tank, your tank
population, and the water conditions you maintain.

Remember, if your fish is ill, it is important that you consult a
veterinarian regarding the fish to get an accurate diagnosis.